Ericsson Sees 60% Growth In Mobile Handset Sales

Mobile telecom major Ericsson Communications Ltd (ECL) is expecting a 60 per cent growth in sales of mobile handsets during the calendar year, according to Ranjivit Singh, director, consumer products and corporate communications of the company.

Ericsson's software development centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad are gradually transforming into an important base for the company in terms of developing software and solutions in mobile Internet for the global major, Singh said.

Currently, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia are in the next generation mobile devices market which will run on new technologies like wireless application protocol, GPRS, and UMTS, in the future.

"We are planning a slew of new generation mobile communication product launches later this year which will help us to consolidate our marketshare and remain among the top two company in handsets," Singh said.

 

Ericsson currently claims a 40 per cent marketshare in India in the area of GSM basic infrastructure for telecom companies. Globally, GSM infrastructure systems account for 70 per cent of Ericsson's revenues and the rest being mobile handsets and accessories.

Ericsson has begun a new naming category for cellular handsets. "We have decided to club our range of cellular handsets into three categories namely A, R and T," Singh said. Under this, the entry level cellular handsets will be under the A-class category, while handsets with feature and technology-rich applications will fall under R-class, and the upmarket aesthetic models will in the third, T-class.

"Text-messaging, Internet and mobile phones can be used for a lot more than just talking. Ericsson would be setting a new trend, where the accessory itself will be a groovy gadget that transforms the mobile phone into a portable FM radio or a messaging device."